The Man Who Brought Style To University City

William Krisel - Born in 1924 in Shanghai, China to an American family (his Father was a distributor for United Artists). The Krisels moved to Beverly Hills in 1937 where William attended Beverly Hills High School and later studied Architecture and graduated from USC in 1949.

Krisel began his 51+ year career in the Los Angeles area followed by Palm Springs before landing in San Diego at 35 years old. Hired by San Diego developer Irvin Kahn in 1960 to design a number of housing tracts (my favorites) in University City. The original development included houses on Stresemann, Lamas, Gobat, Lord Cecil, Award Row, Sandburg and Dalen Avenue (seriously go cruise these streets, the homes are incredible). The Butterfly Roof house on Award Row was the model for the development and featured in promotion material at the time. His pioneering work in development of architectural features (pictured) such as the “butterfly roof”, concrete “shadow block”, and the use of "residential clerestory" (windows) were all prototyped in University City.

Mr. Krisel passed away a few years ago at 92 but his legacy will continue to impact generations to come. In addition to his residential design in University City, his architecture can be seen throughout San Diego, e.g. the iconic Del Prado tower in Balboa Park, as well as the Coronado Shores Condominiums, among many others.

The architecture as well as the neighborhood is near and dear to me as my Grandparents were one of the first homeowners on the block (see the last photo of my “Papa” and their home in 1964). I spent my first 10 years or so playing on those streets and climbing the rock walls within their mid-century-rambler.

Thank you to MidCenturyHome, the Krisel Connection, UniversityCityNews.org, and my Grandparents for the information and imagery I was able to share in this post.